belt buckle -



June 9, 1936- c. w. BUcHsBAUM v 2,043,695

BELT BUCKLE Filed Feb. 15, 1935 J0 /4/ if Patented June 9, 1936 RAT ENT oFFics.

BELT Buomi;

, Chester W. Buchsbaum, Chicago, Ill., assign'or to l S. Buchsbai'xmi tv Go., Chicago, lll.,fa;icorpcra tion or Iliinois Application; February 13, i933,.s'erial No. 656,476 p Y 4:i Claims. (01; 242.191)

Myinvention relates te belt buckles and more particularly to buckles of the type shown in Patent No. 1,399,745 to Samuel Buchsbaum.

Buckles of thischaracter.` have a clamping mechanism for holdingthe re' end of the belt at any desired point which clamping mechanism will grip the belt without being completely closed thus allowing the free end of the belt to be displaced from its position adjacent the other belt portion a considerable distance before releasing the trip of the clamping means.

The principal purpose of the present invention is to provide a simplified structure of clamping Y means which makes it unnecesasry to use a separate pivot pin and which makes it possible to reduce materially the depth or thickness of the belt.

'Ihe invention also contemplates the provision of a belt buckle having the front or base plate, a holding link or member, and a locking or gripping member, each movable relative to the other, and the three parts being held together without the use of---auxiliary pins or other mechanisms.

I will describe the preferred form of my invention by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein- Fig. 1 is an edge view of a portion of a be1t and my improved buckle; Y

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the link or holding member;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the gripping member;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the link and gripping member connected;

Fig. 5 is a section like Fig. 4 on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a section substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the belt 6 has the free end 'l passing through the buckle 8, the other end 9 of the belt being passed through the link member Ill for securing it to the buckle 8.

The front or base plate of the buckle 8 has the down-turned side iianges such as II, and these iianges are turned inwardly as indicated at I2 :fn Fig. 6, the flange being rolled over the outer extremities of lugs I3 and I4 formed on the link member I so as to form a pivot support for the link member on the base plate. The lugs I3 and I4, it will be noted, each have a central securing portion and oppositely directed en-d portions. They are cut out of the plate I0 when it is flat, and then are bent up toy extend at right angles to the plate and are connected thereto by the web portions I and I6. This leaves the slots 26 and 21 between the webs I5 and I6 and the body of the memberlll' and beneath the lugs |33 and u..

These lugs I3 and I'4` form a very simple and eT- cient means for pivoting' the threepieces of the buckle together. It be noted that the utilisation of the lugs I3"and` I4 in this fashion pivots the three pieces of the buckle together upon a. single axis because the oppositely directed end portions of the lugs are all aligned with each other. The link or holding member I0 also has the down-turned portion I'l which cooperates with the gripping member I8 to release the gripping member (see Figs. 4 and 5).

In mounting the gripping member I6 upon the link member I0, the openings such as indicated at I9 must be fitted on the inwardly extending ends 2I and 22 of the lugs I3 and I4. These openings are, therefore, .left with the piece 2U straightenedout as indicated in the dotted lines in Fig. 3 at 20' prior to assembling, thus leaving open slots between the members 20 and shoulders 23. This makes it possible to slip the portions 2| and 22 into the slots provided between the members 20 and the shoulders such as 23, and then the portions 20 can be bent over to lie flat upon the shoulders 23 to form the openings I9 in the final assembly. In this fashion, the gripping member I8 can be assembled with the holding member I0 without the use of any pins or auxiliary parts.V I

The V-shaped portion 24 of the locking member is, of course, adapted to engage the belt to prevent its sliding in the manner shown in the patent mentioned herein. The upturned member I1 acts as a stop limiting the extent to which the member I8 can turn upon the pivots 2| and 22 in one direction, and the shoulders indicated at 25 cooperate with the holding link Ill to limit the movement of the gripping or locking member in the opposite direction.

The mounting of the outer ends of the lugs I3 and I4 in the front plate is accomplished in the simple manner set forth hereinbefore-namely, by merely turning up a portion of the metal plate around the ends toy pivotally support them.

There being no necessity for any auxiliary pins around which the metal must be bent, it is possible to save considerable depth or thickness with this structure so that the belt buckle can be made thinner than has heretofore been possible with an emcient gripping mechanism of this character.

It is also believed to be clear that I have provided a simple three-piece buckle assembly in which the three-pieces are movable relative to eachother and are capable of gripping the belt with the same efliciency or even greater eciency than the prior structures which included these elements and the pin upon which they were mounted.

While I have described one specific form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited tothe exact details shown and described, but may be variously modified in its parts without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Having thus described one specific form of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A belt buckle comprising a main body portion having a face plate portion and a pair of side flanges between which one end of the belt is received, a gripping member between which and said body portion the belt is gripped, and a holding member pivoted to said side flanges and having lugs formed thereon in alignment with the pivotal axis of said holding member on which the vgripping member is pivoted, said holding member having slots beneath the lugs in which portions of the gripping member t.

2. A belt buckle comprising a main body, a plate member for connecting Vone end of a belt thereto, and a gripping element adapted to grip a belt between it and the main body, said plate member having adjacent to the opposite side edges thereof a pair of lugs, each lug having oppositely directed end projections, all of said end projections being aligned with each other, said main body and gripping element being mounted on the oppositely directed end projections of said lugs.

3. A belt buckle comprising a main body, a

l, plate member for connecting one end of a belt thereto, and a gripping element adapted to grip a belt between it and the main body, said plate member having adjacent to the opposite side edges thereof a pair of lugs, each lug having oppositelyi directed end projections, said main body and gripping element being mounted on the oppositely directed end projections of said lugs, said lugs being offset from the plane of said plate member all of said projections being inrailignment with each other whereby to mount the gripping element and main body on a common axis.

' CHESTER W. BUCHSBAUM. 

